


One last time, love...

by blackcoffee423



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Established Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia, Established Relationship, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Love Confessions, M/M, Nightmares, Past Relationship(s), Post-Break Up, Pre-Fall of Insomnia (Final Fantasy XV), Pre-Road Trip, Soft Gladiolus Amicitia, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:22:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25945030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackcoffee423/pseuds/blackcoffee423
Summary: Gladio and Ignis have been on again/off again for months, but start of the road trip threatens to be the final end for them.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	One last time, love...

He heard a quiet syllable come out of the darkness from a close distance, and turned his head gently, listening. Two solid, slow breaths filled the tent, offset by a faster one, interjected now by another mumbled, pained word. Probably too quiet to notice if Gladio hasn’t already been laying there awake. 

“..sabercl...” came in a strained accent. “...get…form...” 

Gladiolus reached out tentatively in the direction of the sound, his fingertips lightly finding his neighbour’s bicep. He whispered his name. 

His vision fought to adjust to the darkness, and after a second, he saw the figure of Ignis laying flat on his back with his eyes squeezed shut, twitching occasionally. Gladio propped up on an elbow, his left hand settling onto the arm it had found.

“Hey,” he tried to keep his voice as low as possible while still hopefully being audible to the man deep in a night terror a foot away. “Hey.” 

He held his breath and listened again. Yes, Prompto and Noctis were both still sound asleep behind him, probably packed in warmly like little sardines. 

“Iggy. Everything’s okay.” he dared utter a little louder.

In the darkness he could just make out movement as Ignis cocked his head and stopped as he heard his name again, eyes still shut tightly. Then he rolled, face getting absorbed into the pillow, and then his body followed as he spun to face where Gladio was.

One long arm emerged from Ignis’s sleeping bag and patted it’s way onto Gladio’s bare side. “Gladdy.” the mumbled voice said, now solid and tinged with relief, but definitely still asleep. The hand rested deeper onto his waist, thumb comfortably pressing in. 

Gladio froze; considered; he knew he should move his unconscious friend’s hand away, but he momentarily lost that battle. He was flooded with the memory of the last time they’d laid like this. He closed his eyes. 

It had been twilight on the day before they set off on this road trip. They had spoken about how this would be the last time, and unlike all of the times they’d said that same thing before, Gladiolus knew this was actually it. 

After these few stolen hours of quiet privacy, Ignis would have to leave for last preparations soon. Gladiolus had things to do, too. His lungs had felt raw at the proximity of that final moment while he stayed sprawled there, Ignis’s arms wrapped around him, purple-and-gold lit hand fitting so perfectly just above his hip. The tactician’s eyes had drifted shut. Still, but strained. He breathed in, deliberately, and Gladio searched for mental space. 

In some ways, nothing would change tomorrow — they’d set off and be together every day. But in others, everything would.

Time had rarely passed without their relationship evolving back to these moments. Within weeks— sometimes mere days —of swearing it off, they always found themselves right back where they’d started: in each other’s arms. 

In this room, crashing into each other in a frenzy, clothes being flung in every direction. (Ignis would neatly collect them all later, helping fold them with care.)  
In the bookshop cafe they both adored separately, then explored together, hardly keeping their eyes off each other. Claiming they had work to do (and really, they did) but using it as an excuse to spend hours together. Sometimes, they passed afternoons without either man saying a word, a finger occasionally reaching across the table between empty coffee mugs, hands meeting just to say “hi, I’m still here” through the comfortable silence.  
On the bathroom floor, when they just couldn’t make it to the bedroom in time, becoming a pile of mixed up limbs and endless kisses.  
Spending countless evenings at restaurants, on walks, on long drives, all blurs as months passed. 

But it always ended with the same struggle as Ignis pulled back. He said it was a distraction; it wasn’t proper. He agreed that Noctis wouldn’t bat an eyelash at the match, and would probably even _encourage_ it if it meant both of their happiness — but something in the pairing of two people who worked so closely, the official acceptance of the relationship and giving into what they both clearly wanted, he just couldn’t sit with. Gladio couldn’t find an argument to sway him, even if that acceptance was all he wanted. 

Gladio would forgive him, and they’d agree to be friends. Then Ignis would crumble, give in to his feelings, and the cycle continued.

Until this, the real end. Gladio knew Ignis didn’t want that any more than he did, regardless of what he claimed: That being together would change the dynamic of everything— a romantic couple and two friends, all camping their way to Noctis’s wedding. That it would be strange, and detract from their focus. Life would only get more intense, more demanding from here. He wasn’t wrong, in a way, but what could be more distracting than this? This pain tearing through his chest when he could never be with the love of his life? Being forced to act as if he was nothing more than a friend?

In the tent, his fingers gently grazed down the side of Ignis’s arm. He found a new scratch, alongside the scarred dent he’d caused in an overzealous, heated moment months before. Ignis had been sent flying off the bed, knocking into the bedside table and completely crushing a lamp. Gladio had panicked, leaping into role as healer, and in his shock an accidental “I love you” had slipped out. That was the first time he’d said it, and to his relief, it wasn’t rejected; Ignis had softened in laughter, though they spent the rest of the evening cuddled beneath a sheet before he had finally said it back. Injury aside, it was secretly one of Ignis’s favourite memories. 

Gladio’s eyes blinked open again now. Ignis reacted to that touch on his arm by rolling in further towards Gladio’s form. He felt so small to the shield, his bowed head nuzzling gently against his propped up arm. The light tickle of his exhales just reached his chest. Gladio inhaled deeply, trying to absorb all of the good in this moment and how right it felt.

Almost in response to that thought, he just barely heard words mixed into those sleeping breaths. “Love you...” 

Gladio bit back his heaving exhale. Here they were, floating in this circumstance without space for a real definition. Trying to relax, he hoped that some future existed after this chapter was over, where they could find space for their story to finally be told.


End file.
